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04 Mar 2015 6:14:53am

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So late to reply, but here I am!

Thanks for your question Tom: If God is the bishop and collectively we are Valjean then who is Javert? I think Javert is anyone among us who is quick to the point the finger at the wrongs committed by other people but who fails to examine their own conduct. Javert is also the harsh, unyielding, legalistic type - the kind of person more interested in following the letter of the law (Valjean has broken parole and must be brought to justice) than in offering mercy and grace (perhaps in recognition that they too are not perfect).

Tim Keller's reading of the parable of the prodigal son: "The Prodigal God" offers a good discussion of the 'older brother' figure in the parable - who Javert recalls all too easily.

As an unfortunate aside, Keller also notes that the 'older brother' personality is often found in churches...! And that 'older brother' judgementalism turns people off Christianity like nothing else. Which is tragic because you cannot get further from the core of what Christianity is all about: scandalous grace showed to those who don't deserve it. So The Prodigal God is a humbling read for anyone who is/has been an 'older brother' Christian but the fact that even the older brother/Javert-figure can be forgiven for their error ends up underlining the kind of scandalous grace that we also see in Les Mis.